Combinatorial processing may refer to various techniques used to vary characteristics of the processes applied to multiple regions of a substrate in serial, parallel or parallel-serial fashion. Combinatorial processing may be used to test and compare multiple and various processing techniques. The processing techniques may be validated, and those techniques that are useful may be applied to, for example, different substrates or full-substrate processing.
During combinatorial experiments it is beneficial to provide as much flexibility as possible with regard to the tools performing the processing. For example, for processing guns requiring power, the source power cables are manually moved from one sputter gun to another depending on the power type desired for the combinatorial processing. The disconnection and reconnection of power cables creates a safety concern and is time consuming. It is within this context that the embodiments arise.